


A Very Rowdy Halloween

by flightinflame



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Recovery, Team as Family, paint fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27304966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Amanda used to love Halloween. Before the illness, and Todd's lies. But today, she discovers what it means to the Rowdies, and gets to enjoy it again.
Relationships: Amanda Brotzman & The Rowdy 3
Comments: 29
Kudos: 28
Collections: DGHDA Halloween Mini Bang 2020





	A Very Rowdy Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thank you to Hellz for running this - a highlight in a stressful year. Also huge thanks to Triff for help writing it, and to confused-android for being a wonderful beta. Art to follow.
> 
> Take care of yourself everyone.

Halloween had been Amanda's favourite time of year once. When she'd been little, there had been nothing that had meant more to her than wandering around, looking at the spooky decorations and the funny outfits, holding her brother's hand to stay safe. 

Two things had ruined it for her, totally. Torn her enjoyment of the time to shreds, and left her with nothing other than bitter-tasting memories.

The first was that her pararibulitis made the frights of Halloween into threats. Not just the risk of someone jumping out at her, but the novelty food — she could slice her fingers to shreds on sugar glass, get poisoned by a toffee apple... she was meant to stay calm, and Halloween was about anything but calmness. There were things she could do — taking it easy, watching a spooky film instead — to take away those fears. But there were other problems with the day that couldn't just be wished away.

The second, far worse problem, was the fact her memories had been soured. Because she had been seven or eight when she'd begged her brother to go out trick or treating, while he was home from college, and he'd said he was still tired after an attack. Because apparently it had been easier to lie about having a disease that destroyed lives, than it was to take your sister out for a walk when she was excited to spend time with you.

She groaned, pressing her hands against her face in an attempt to stop herself from crying. It wasn't worth her tears. Todd wasn't worth her tears, and just because he'd shattered all of her childhood memories... she tried to take slow deep breaths, to prevent herself triggering an actual attack. Because actual attacks were something that she had to worry about. She clenched her hands into fists and leaned against the window of the van, and tried to stay calm.

"You okay there Drummer?" Martin growled from the front seat of the van, and she nodded.

"You don't look okay," Cross told her, his voice surprisingly kind.

"Yeah, you look like you're sad!" Vogel agreed, squirming from where Gripps had him pinned to do his nail varnish.

"A bit." Her gaze drifted out the window. "I just... it's almost Halloween. And I miss what it used to be, but Todd... it's not the same any more. And I'm trying to move on. And I am forgiving him — not for his sake, but for mine, because I can't live with what he's done and let it gnaw away at me forever. But... I just remember sometimes. What we had. What he took away from me."

Cross squeezed her shoulder, and for a few moments the van was silent, before Martin threw his head back and howled. A moment later, the other men did the same. From the passenger seat, Beast pulled her head in and howled in delight as well, not really aware of what was going on but enjoying the chance to cause chaos.

Amanda didn't know what it said about who she was, and how she lived now, that she threw her own head back to join in, howling out all the anger and pain and frustration that was bubbling inside of her. 

It helped. It didn't take away all of the pain that was knotted up inside, didn't ease away the betrayal of everything that had happened. But it softened it, at least a little bit. She took slow deep breaths, telling herself that everything was alright now, and she was almost able to believe it.

Gradually the noise died down, and she swapped seats with Vogel, letting Gripps give her a vivid neon orange manicure. 

"You know, Drummer, Halloween means a lot to us guys. And if your brother messed up how you wanna do it, you could have fun with us instead."

"You don't have to —"

"We want to." Cross told her.

"It's one of Vogel's four favourite days of the year. So on an average year it is in the top 1.1% of his days." Gripps agreed, and Vogel nodded enthusiastically.

"Halloween's fun, Boss. We get to dress up in sheets, and smash stuff, and eat candy and paint stuff and it's fun."

"I guess if it means so much to you... we'd better have a Rowdy Halloween." Amanda smiled, pushing aside the pain Todd had caused, and focusing on what she had now, with her new family. This was enough.

Fuck what Todd had done and the way he'd ignored her, made her feel guilty for wanting today to be special. It was going to be special now, for her and for the rest of the Rowdies. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down again, before pain could spark up. She was with her friends. She had a purpose, and they were working against Blackwing, working on the side of chaos. But Halloween was a special day, a day for something different, something important. They could celebrate, and relax, and things would fall into place. 

Anyway, she was excited to find out what a Rowdy Halloween was like.

***  
Once the decision had been made, the older Rowdies got to work, and Vogel bounced around the van, telling her about the games they had played in previous years, the fun that they had had. 

He never mentioned trick or treating, and she understood why even if he didn't — there was just too much chance of Blackwing finding them. But that didn't mean that they hadn't had a good time.

They were bright. Full of life and excitement, and Amanda could tell they were thinking about all the things they hadn't been able to give Vogel growing up. If they could give him this, give him a chance to feel normal, that mattered.

"So what are your other favourite days?" Amanda asked, as Vogel sat on the seat beside her, quiet for once as he played on his gameboy. He looked up and grinned, holding up four fingers and ticking them down as he counted.

"Halloween's great, Boss, then Christmas, my birthday, and break-out day."

"Break out day?"

"We go and smash things up all day." He grinned brightly, bouncing in excitement at the very mention of the day. "It's the anniversary of when we got out of... you know..." he shrugged, glancing down and then clearing his throat. "It's fun. We get to play and... we just mess around, you know, boss? Don't need to worry about nothing because we're free now."

"I'm glad you're free." There was a slight tinge of guilt in Amanda's mind at that moment — she didn't particularly like the idea of being without them, but she couldn't invade on such a special moment.

"You're free too, Boss. And I'll find you the best stuff to smash. You're great at smashing."

"That's because I learned from the best, Vogel," Amanda promised, getting an answering grin. Vogel leaned in to embrace her for a moment, and she hugged him back just as tightly, feeling foolish for ever thinking she'd be ignored.

Her guys wouldn't do that to her. They were a team. More than that, they were Rowdies.

She was still thinking about that when her phone began to ring. Her brother's number was on the screen, and she flinched and hit accept.

"Hey, Amanda, we're doing a Halloween thing; Dirk wasn't sure if you wanted to come over so I said I'd invite you."

"I have plans," she answered. "Look, is this a Dirk Case Thing or just a Dirk asking thing? Because if it’s a Dirk Case Thing, I cannot be bothered to deal with the chaos that'll happen if I say no." She'd learned that lesson the hard way. If Dirk had a case, it was better to just go with the flow, because otherwise the universe would burst tires and replace road signs to make sure you ended up where it wanted you to be.

"It's just us asking, because we'd like you there." Todd sounded almost a little pained, and she wondered if he was remembering Christmases in the past, Christmases he had ruined.

She could have agreed. But instead she smiled to herself. "No, sorry Todd. I have plans." With that, she hung up the phone. She knew it was petty and vindictive, but it felt good, to be able to cut him off after all the shit he'd put her through.

"All good there, Drummer?" Martin growled from the front seat. She looked around, and nodded. "Yeah, it's all good."

"Awesome, because we're gonna be camping for a couple of days. You get whatever you need from the store, and I'll go get some stuff, we're gonna have fun." The van crawled to a stop outside a gas station, and Amanda hurried out, carrying a bag with her. She'd gotten used to shopping like this, to spending a few days away from everyone other than her guys. She'd never been the outdoor sleeping type, especially not since her disease, but it was different with her Rowdies around her.

She grabbed some candy, and some actual food, and saw Martin stocking up on drinks. He caught her eye. "You're gonna want some more candy than that."

She took his advice, adding to it, then carried her bag back to the car, and gave some of the candy to Beast, who ate them delightedly, crunching each of the sweets in turn.

That night, Martin drove them out to the middle of nowhere, and they spilled from the van, causing chaos in a cornfield, and lying curled together under the stars. Then, Martin grinned at her. "Goodnight, Drummer."

"Night, guys." She laughed to herself as they all started saying goodnight to each other, all laughing and pushing each other before settling almost like a pack, limbs across each other and cuddled up close. This was her home now, and she was happy here.

***

On Halloween itself, she woke up slowly, feeling the weight of Vogel's head on top of her stomach. He was always an eager cuddler. She allowed herself a couple of minutes to snuggle against him, before she opened her eyes.

It took a couple of moments to process what she was seeing, but once she worked it out she started to laugh so hard she didn't think she would be able to stop. 

Gripps was reading, Cross was cooking, and Martin had a map in front of him, while Vogel was curled up against her. None of that was particularly out of the ordinary, aside from the fact all four of them were covered in large duvet covers.

Martin had gone for a pale blue one, that might have once been white before several unfortunate run ins with a dirty laundry pile. Cross was wearing a tartan one, Gripps's had flowers, and Vogel's one had a bright pattern of superheroes. They had eyeholes, and were stumbling around a little given the obstruction the outfit provided. 

She laughed loudly, unafraid - in the past she might have been concerned about triggering an attack, but she didn't need to worry now, what with her guys around. Which meant that there was nothing she needed to do other than laugh herself hoarse.

Eventually she got her breathing under control, and she sat up straight. "You all look..."

"Spooky?" Martin supplied, and even if she couldn't see him, she knew there was a broad smirk on his face.

"Kinda dorky, actually." Amanda answered. 

"We got you one too, Drummer." Cross explained, walking over to the van and returning with a dark grey duvet cover, studded with white music notes. "Any problems, you take it off, but we're here."

She shrugged, and pulled it on. This late in the year, the outside was cold enough that the sheet wasn't uncomfortable, just awkward. She glanced around, but there was no sign of Beast — she'd often wander off in woodland.

Martin went to the van, grabbing the candy she had brought, and putting it near the fire they'd burned the previous night. "Snacks are there. We got bats, we got pipes, we got rocks. We got stuff to smash."

"And paint?" Vogel asked, bouncing from side to side, almost tripping over his ridiculous sheet.

"Yeah, and paint."

"Paint?"

"Well, best thing about Halloween is we're all dressed up like ghosts, right? So we don't just smash." Martin gestured to the van, and Gripps and Vogel grabbed some cans of paint, carrying them between them. "You can paint as well. Throw it everywhere. Decorate the van if you want. You won't get it on you - Vogel don't like the feeling, and we aren't trying to cause an attack. But this?" He leaned in, and plunged his sheet-covered hand into a paint pot, before pulling it out and flicking it at them. "This is fun."

Amanda looked at him, and then down at the paint pots, and smirked. This meant war, and she wasn't going to lose. She crouched to the nearest paint pot - a vivid blue - and stuck the corner of her sheet in, then ran towards Martin. Vogel whooped in delight, and Cross and Gripps helped her corner Martin, smearing the paint down the front of his sheet.

After that, things got pretty chaotic.

She laughed harder than she'd laughed in years, throwing paint and messing around and just... just being free. No worries, no cares. Destroying and decorating and eating far more sugar than she should have done, and not needing to worry about anything. 

The Rowdies were never good at staying calm, and paint fights caused far wider chaos. They flung paint at each other, smashed whatever they wanted, and occasionally paused to add particular decoration to each other's duvet covers. Gripps used the tartan of Cross's sheet to solve some equations, and Vogel added multi-colour splotches to Martin's. By the time that it was getting dark, their space was surrounded in paint and chaos, and they had eaten most of the candies. 

They slipped out of the sheets, and she grinned to see how utterly drenched in paint she had become. Martin handed around the beers, and they curled up together, side by side. Beast emerged from the woodland, a broad smile on her face, running over to them and embracing Amanda. Amanda hugged her back, watching as she bounced around in excited circles, telling them about her day. Vogel joined in, talking about his, and the chaos and sound only got louder and more chaotic. Still, they were together and that meant something.

They curled up by the fire, sharing ghost stories that weren't very scary — Vogel was very excited and very flaily when telling stories, but usually forgot to give them a plot — and toasted some marshmallows. Then they laid down in a tangle, the way they always did, huddled up in the van to keep the chill of the night air away. Martin's hand brushed through her hair, and Vogel and Beast squirmed across them, and Gripps's leg brushed hers and Cross's arm rested across her waist, and she felt completely safe. Tired, but safe.

Halloween had been Amanda's favourite time of year once, before her brother had stolen it from her with his lies and mistakes, left it tainted. But that night, as November began and she laid in the back of the van surrounded by the family she had chosen, smiling to herself as Vogel and Beast chattered away and the others snored, she thought it might be her favourite time of year again.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! Please do comment if you can - it's candy for authors!


End file.
